Panzer IV

Panzer IV Winter 1943-44.

The Panzerkampfwagen IV (Pz.Kpfw. IV) commonly known as the Panzer IV was a medium tank developed in Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and used extensively during the Second World War. Its ordnance inventory designation was Sd.Kfz. 161.

Designed as an infantry-support tank, the Panzer IV was not originally intended to engage enemy armor—that function was performed by the lighter Panzer III. However, with the flaws of pre-war doctrine becoming apparent and in the face of Soviet T-34 tanks, the Panzer IV soon assumed the tank-fighting role of its increasingly obsolete cousin. The most widely manufactured and deployed German tank of the Second World War, the Panzer IV was used as the base for many other fighting vehicles, including the Sturmgeschütz IV assault gun, Jagdpanzer IV tank destroyer, the Wirbelwind self-propelled anti-aircraft weapon, and the Brummbär self-propelled gun.

Robust and reliable, it saw service in all combat theaters involving Germany and has the distinction of being the only German tank to remain in continuous production throughout the war, with over 8,800 produced between 1936 and 1945. Upgrades and design modifications, often made in response to the appearance of new Allied tanks, extended its service life. Generally these involved increasing the Panzer IV’s armor protection or upgrading its weapons, although during the last months of the war with Germany’s pressing need for rapid replacement of losses, design changes also included retrograde measures to simplify and speed manufacture.

The Panzer IV was the most widely exported tank in German service, with around 300 sold to partners such as Finland, Romania, Spain and Bulgaria. After the war, seeking to improve its armoured forces, Syria procured a number of PzKpfw IV from France and Czechoslovakia, which were to see combat in the 1967 Six-Day War.

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Color Photos

Panzer IV

Panzer IV Ausf.G of the 25th Panzer-Division at the Harbour of Toulon, France during Operation Lila November 1942.

Knocked out Panzer IV, August 1944.

An American 35th Infantry Division Halftrack speeds past a burnt out Panzer IV after the Battle of Foy, Belgium, Bulge 1945.

Wrecked Panzer IV in Afrika.

Loading ammo into a PzIV.

Wrecked Panzer IVs.

Wrecked Panzer IV in Africa.

Panzer IVs.

Panzer IVs.

Panzer IV

Early war photo of German Panzerkampfwagen IV Ausf.C or D (Sd.Kfz. 161) driver wearing the beret-type Schutzmütze (protective cap).

Modern Day Photos

A Panzer IV Ausf G. in desert colors, bearing the palm tree insignia of the 15th Panzer Division of the Afrika Korps.

Panzer IV at the Deutsches Panzermuseum – German Tank Museum.

Panzer IV at the The Bovington Tank Museum – England.

Panzer IV – Normandy Tank Museum – Catz, France

Panzer IV – Normandy Tank Museum – Catz, France

Panzer IV – Overlord Museum – Colleville-sur-Mer, France

The 300 horsepower Maybach HL 120TRM engine used in most Panzer IV production models.

The 1942 Panzer IV Ausf. F2 was an upgrade of the Ausf. F, fitted with the KwK 40 L/43 anti-tank gun to counter Soviet T-34 and KV tanks.

The Ausf. J was the final production model, and was greatly simplified compared to earlier variants to speed construction. This shows an exported Finnish model.

Pzkw-IV in Belgrade Military Museum, Serbia.

Panzer IV at the 2014 War and Peace Revival Event – England.

Panzer IV at the Deutsches Panzermuseum – German Tank Museum.

Panzer IV

Panzer IV at the Museum of the Slovak National Uprising in Banská Bystrica, Slovakia.

Information

Panzerkampfwagen IV.

Panzerkampfwagen IV.

Panzerkampfwagen IV.

Then and Now Photos

House of the National Assembly in Belgrade – then and now. After nine SS men from the “Reich” Division used the general confusion and formally captured the Yugoslav capital on 12 April 1941, a victory parade of the true conqueror of the city, the 1st Armoured Group, was held on 13 April at noon. In the (old) photo, tanks of the Panzer-Regiment 15 / 11.Panzer-Division “Gespensterdivision” (Ghost Division) parade in front of their commanders: standing in the centre is Generaloberst Ewald von Kleist (commander of the armoured group), to his right is Generalmajor Ludwig Crüwell (divisional commander), and on the left, in black uniform, is Oberstleutnant Gustav-Adolf Riebel (commander of the division’s panzer Regiment).

Off Color Photos

Panzer IV Ausf. J

White washed Panzer IV and her crew.

Black and White Photos

PzKpfw IV Ausf. D

The short-barreled Panzer IV Ausf. F1.

Possible knocked out Panzer IV and Tiger, June 1944.

Panzer IV’s

Panzer IV review Jan-Feb 1944.

Panzer IV numbered 505.

Panzer recovery crew tries to get a disabled Panzer IV moving again.

Apweiler, Germany, Winter 1945. US combat engineers ready a Panzer IV for demolition to stop any chance of it falling back into enemy hands.

Panzer IV of Army Group North, September 1943.

Captured Panzer IV in North Afrika.

Panzer IV Ausf. C

Panzer III and Panzer IV on the Eastern Front.

Panzer IV

A PzKpfw IV Ausf. H of the 12th Panzer Division operating on the Eastern Front in the USSR, 1944.

Waffen-SS soldiers aboard a Panzer IV in Kharkov, March 1943.

A Panzer IV ausf G of the 1st SS Panzer Division “Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler” near the Arc de Triumphe in Paris, 1942.

LSSAH Panzer IV Ausf. H in Milan, Italy, September 1943.

A Panzer IV Ausf. E showing signs of multiple hits to the turret, including the gun barrel.

2.SS Panzergrenadier-Division Das Reich. when driving on a road in snow covered forest December 1943.

2.SS Panzergrenadier-Division Das Reich. when driving on a road in snow covered forest December 1943.

Panzer IV of the 12th SS Hitlerjugend, 1943.

2.SS Panzergrenadier-Division Das Reich. when driving on a road in snow covered forest December 1943.

Panzer IIIs and IVs advance against the southern face of the salient

Panzer IV’s crossing a makeshift bridge.

Knocked out Panzer IV.

A British Crusader tank passing a burning German Panzer IV during Operation Crusader, late 1941.

Incomplete Panzer IVs.

Panzer IV

Abandoned Panzer IV Ausf. E tank of the Deutsches Afrikakorps.

Knocked out Afrika Korps Panzer IV Ausf E.

Panzer IV’s in Athens, Greece.

PzIII L60 and PzIV L48 on the Eastern Front.

Panzers of the German 4th Panzer Army reach the Stalingrad-Morozovsk railway on the outskirts of Stalingrad, August 31,1942.

Panzer IV on the move.

Panzer IV, Juni 1944.

Panzer IV, 1940.

Panzer IV, Winter 1943.

Panzer IVs in the mud.

Panzer IVs with panzergrenadiers on the attack.

Panzer IVs on them move.

Panzer IV column.

Panzer IV.

Panzer IV Ausf.H. in muddy terrain.

Panzer IV of the 4th Panzer Division.

White washed Panzer IVs, December 1943.

SS Panzer IV and crew.

Panzer IV and Panther, August 1944, Western Front.

Panzer IV.

Panzer IV.

Panzer IV Winter 1943-44.

German Panzer IV in Thessaloniki. The banner on the building in the background reads “Bolshevism is the greatest enemy of our civilization”.

Copyright

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